Apple's Back to the Mac Gear: Visual Tour

Apple put the iPhones and iPads away on Wednesday, and revealed new Mac software and hardware. Still, Apple knows the importance of iOS, so it's no surprise that elements of the iPad crept into the next version of OS X, called Lion, and a refreshed MacBook Air. Read on for a closer look at Apple's announcements.

Don't panic; the Mac App Store won't be the only way get OS X software, but it will allow for one-click purchasing and installation, update notifications and the ability to re-download apps on every Mac you own.

Facetime is now available in beta for Macs. It works between other Macs, iPhones and iPod Touches, using the Address Book for contacts. Any bets on whether an iPad with front-facing camera will follow?

All MacBook Airs have Intel Core 2 Duo processors, ranging from 1.4 GHz to 2.13 GHz, and 2 GB of DDR3 RAM. Storage is all solid state, of course, and starts at 64 GB for the smaller Air, and 128 GB for the larger, with options for double the capacity in each. The smaller and larger models have 5-hour and 7-hour batteries, respectively. Here's the full rundown for each model.

All new Macs will now include iLife 11, which has improvements to iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand. For everyone else, the software costs $49, unless you bought a new computer on or after October 1, in which case the update costs $7 plus tax.

The new iPhoto lets users share images by e-mail; tag and post photos to Facebook directly from the app; and create photo books and letterpress cards that can be ordered as hard copies. Slideshows now have animated themes with their own music.

iPhoto puts photo bookmaking right on your desktop with themed templates that let you choose background color, font, and layout. You can even run images up to the page's edges for a full-bleed two-page effect.

How cute. iMovie now includes a movie trailer creator, with fancy graphics and titles. More functional features include audio editing, one-click special effects and a people finder that detects faces and the style of shot (close-up, wide-angle and so on).

New in GarageBand are a host of toe-tapping features that range from Flex Time (for keeping songs in rhythm), Groove Machine (a rhythm matching tool), Guitar Amps and Effects, and new Basic Lessons for learning how to play piano and guitar.

GarageBand's biggest new features are Flex Time and Groove Matching, both of which are intended to fix bad rhythm. The former alters the speed of an entire recording to alleviate timing mistakes, while the latter quantizes all tracks to a single groove. Other features include new guitar effects, more piano and guitar lessons and a rating system for lessons.